Talk about timing

But 24 hours later, he was the toast of Burnley after a spot of goal-poaching Andy Payton would have been proud of. Moore might even have been put forward for the freedom of the town by Stan Ternent if his late, great, curling volley had dipped just a few inches more to the right.

It's a mark of how well Ternent's men played on his return 'home' that the Clarets contingent left the cavernous Stadium of Light disappointed not to have won.

And why not?

The bookies, in their infinite wisdom, had made the Clarets a 4/1 bet to beat one of the First Division big boys in their own back yard.

Those odds looked as laughable on grass as they had on paper as Burnley braved an early battering to take the game to their hosts with some of the slickest football they have played all season, capped by Moore's uplifting 72nd minute strike.

And but for the foot of Mart Poom's left hand post, there would have been only one winner in a truly pulsating clash that evoked memories of the end-to-end game at West Ham back in October.

Like Upton Park, there is still an air of the Premiership hanging around Sunderland's magnificent stadium. Even with almost 30,000 fans taking the roof off, the place is paradoxically only half full - largely due to the side currently carrying their hopes.

Despite their illusions of grandeur, one glance at the teams suggests this Burnley side is no worse, certainly the equal and arguably at full strength better than a team that still has most bookies backing them for promotion.

And so it proved after a shaky start where Burnley relied on the agility of Brian Jensen to keep the foundations from crumbling.

The big Dane still has his snipers, but in my view his shot-stopping is as good as any goalkeeper at the club in the past decade - and he proved that with a performance that left Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy drooling.

Five saves in a faultless 90 minutes could all have earned him man of the match status, were it not for several other shining lights in the Clarets camp.

The entire spine of the side stood solid, from centre backs David May, who was violently ill shortly before kick off, and Mark McGregor making his first start of the season.

Richard Chaplow and Tony Grant, who was simply magnificent, fetched and carried all afternoon, while a withdrawn Robbie Blake and Moore tormented and teased Sunderland's defence throughout.

Yet Jensen was first to lay down his marker, expertly tipping Darren Williams bullet header for a corner in the seventh minute after a blistering start by the hosts.

Four minutes later, Jensen again pounced to parry Kevin Kyle's header low to his left. Those opening minutes set the tone for Sunderland's entire gameplan, seemingly intent on getting the ball up to Kyle's head as quickly and as often as possible. Thankfully, the beanpole striker, similar in height to the Angel of the North just a few miles up the road, has just about the same mobility and once Burnley got to grips with the one-dimensional threat, it quickly diminished.

That enabled the playmakers in the visiting camp to start gnawing away at the rest of McCarthy's mob and Burnley were soon in the ascendancy.

Blake almost caught out Mart Poom with a stinging volley in the 16th minute and then came even closer minutes later, driving a shot past Poom's outstretched glove and back off the inside of the post.

Jensen made one more brief intervention on the half hour, tipping side a fiercely struck angled drive from Julio Arca. But soon it was Poom back in the spotlight with a stunning tip over from David May's flick header that was arcing into the top corner.

From the corner Mark McGregor should have done better than head straight at Poom when left unmarked 12 yards out. But Burnley thought they had finally grabbed the lead seconds later, when Glen Little and Richard Chaplow combined to tee up Moore, who set off celebrating before seeing his perfectly placed side-footer cannon back off the same upright Blake had earlier rattled.

And Sunderland are not called the Black Cats for nothing as they, themselves took the lead three minutes later. Michael Proctor flicked on another hopeful punt forward and Kyle stole in behind May's outstretched boot to bobble the ball past Jensen from 12 yards.

The Clarets suffered another blow moments after the break when Chaplow picked up his fourth booking in as many games - and a one-match ban in the process.

And Jensen made the save of the game on the hour mark, stretching every sinew to parry Jeff Whitley's drive from distance onto the underside of the crossbar. Proctor gobbled up the rebound, but thankfully the linesman's flag gave Burnley renewed hope.

And how they capitalised. Sub Paul Weller latched onto Little's clever reverse pass with 18 minutes left and whipped a low cross into the danger area.

Chaplow, oozing confidence, tried a Zola flick that confused Williams and Moore scrambled home his first goal in seven games and the first Sunderland had conceded at home in two months.

Blake then forced another fine save from Poom as Burnley went for the jugular, before Moore's instinctive volley from the corner of the area fizzed agonisingly wide.

Now victory looked likely, but in the end Burnley were again indebted to that man Jensen following another jaw-dropping save from Marcus Stewart's stoppage time stinger.

I should have been disappointed having jumped at the 4/1 offered by the bookies. Somehow, seeing this game more than made up for seeing £20 snatched away.

SUNDERLAND 1

Kyle 39

BURNLEY 1

I Moore 72

Stadium Of Light Att: 29,852